Friday, October 30, 2009

as promised....

Ok, honesty time here. How many of you imagined a sweet three year old princess to wear all of the tulle, glitter & feathers? Because that would have been darling! However....


My princess/superhero is not three. She's thirteen! & very tall (much taller than her mommy!) Here she is all dolled up for a party tonight. Oh, she made the applique for her shirt, it says "Super Pinky!") And by the way, her lovely pink cast is off. Too bad, it would have matched her outfit perfectly! She's back in her boot for now...
You can't really see it but there is silver glitter in her hair... a bit of fairy dust I suppose. Interesting get-up, don't you think?

Halloween costume

Allyson has put me to work making some fancy, creative costumes over the years. She was Cinderella the year we went to Disney (the waitress at the Character Breakfast said "oh Cinderella, did your royal seamstress make your gown?" Ummm, yes. That would be me, the royal seamstress). One year she was a fairy, complete with silk flowers in her mesh skirt. A green witch.... I could go on & on. But I do believe this year's creation takes the cake!


It involves every possible type of material, all of it pink. A fancy net tutu..... a reversible cape, complete with ribbon ties and a feather boa (ever try to hand stitch a feather boa to the bottom of a cape? Not something I care to repeat!)
A magic wand of course! With sparkly ribbons....
but alas, it seems too plain. hmmmm. Oh! I know what it needs! Glitter!

I promise to share pictures of the completed ensemble tomorrow. See you then!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Seventeen!

My handsome son, Steve, is seventeen today! What a lucky mom I am to have him as part of my terrific family. When she was just a tiny girl, Leigh Anne said "I think God sent Steve here to make us laugh!" So perceptive! He has kept us laughing all of his seventeen years!


Steve is an avid sports enthusiast...... an awesome student..... a terrific photographer & videographer & a wonderful Christian teen. Can't beat that! He loves cinnamon rolls, the color orange, and baseball.


Happy Birthday Son!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

one more post about quilt festival

I noticed a reoccurring theme in the quilts at Quilt Festival. Or at least in the quilts that caught my eye! Maybe that's it. Anyways, there were a lot of BIRDS in quilts! interesting. Here are some of my favorites:Green-eyed Button Tail Bird by Karen Keeler, ME

Red Legged Bird with a Tale to Tell by Kathy York, TX

Just Sing... Sing a Song by Tom Russell, TX

Turquoise Turtles and Friends by Karen Eckmeier, CT

Moon Garden by Judy Coates Perez, IL

My friends will tell you that I have been buying a lot of fabric with birds on it lately. Hmmm it's true. I don't know why. I've never really had a fondness for birds of the live variety (although those printed on fabric are generally cuter and ummmm quieter!). I think maybe it is just a fad in the industry & it just happens that many of the new, cute fabrics are of birds. Next year, it will be something different, I'm sure.



Thursday, October 22, 2009

some new purses

I've already sewn up many of the fabrics I brought home from Festival! On Monday I whipped up this little ditty for my sister, Diane. It's actually a version of my next pattern! This pattern is proving more complicated to write than my last one, please be patient with me! I hope to have it done soon. Anyways, she wanted one she could wear with jeans or khaki.
Today I made a bag with the other fabrics for a friend! It's a totally new design that popped into my head a week or so ago. What do you think?

I need to tweak it a bit. There are some things I love about it, like these details:


And the patchwork straps....

The things I don't like? I do believe it is a tad too wide (although I love the roominess inside). Perhaps if I box the corners so the sides & bottom are a bit wider the proportions will be better? We shall see.....

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

What I bought at Quilt Festival

Here are a few of the things I bought at Quilt Festival! I can't show you everything.... some of it will become Christmas gifts!


I needed to get something new.... something I had not tried before. I walked by the Plum Creek Collectibles booth several times & really loved their patterns. Finally I gave in! I decided I will try wool felt embroidery. I chatted with Tammy DeYoung, the pattern designer. She was very sweet & set me up with the perfect felt for the 2 kits I selected. I'm anxious to get started on them! I bought quite a few magazines, books & patterns. Here are some of my favorites! Of course, I can't read Quilts Japan, it's all in Japanese! But the pictures are beautiful!
The Hoot 'n Annie pattern is adorable. The pattern designer, Annie, was there demoing Texture Magic. I had seen it on the internet before & wasn't really interested, but seeing it in person I was intrigued! You can make a textured fabric out of any type of fabric, it was pretty cool. I'll let you know how it works...


The other "new" product that caught my eye was the curtain grommets. Several patterns have come out for bags using these. I might try to work them into my bag patterns? Or maybe use them on aprons, I haven't decided yet.

of course, I bought fabric too. These 2 groups will be purses, one for my sister & one for a friend.

I've got lots to do! & here I am blogging....

Monday, October 19, 2009

Make it University!

On Saturday I decided to see if I could get selected for a class at the "Make it University" at Quilt Festival. Basically these are make it & take it workshops offered throughout each day by Quilting Arts Magazine. I had seen other ladies doing them & they looked like fun!


So, first thing Saturday, I ran to the "Make it University" area (ok, I didn't run! My knees were killing me after 2 days of walking! But I walked as fast as I could!) & threw my name into 6 of the fishbowls for class drawings.

I didn't have to wait long, as they drew the names for the first class at 10:15. Guess what??? There weren't even 25 names in the bowl (they take 25 for each class) so we all got in! From what I understand, that never happens! So I went on in & took my seat.

That class was called "Wishes, Hopes, and Dreams Mini-book" & it was taught by Lyric Kinard. You can see her below, in the center with the dark hair & glasses, along with several ladies from the class displaying their finished books.
It was a fun class! We had different kinds of papers & fabrics. We stamped, painted, did image transfers, all kinds of techniques, to create our little books.


Later in the afternoon I got selected for a second class! There were lots of ladies who didn't get into that class & I felt a little bad getting into TWO in one day! But not bad enough to sacrifice my spot!


This class was called "Travelling Art Box". It was taught by Jamie Fingal.
We made these little decoupaged boxes out of Altoid boxes! It was really fun. The fan folded paper goes inside. I took mine home & put pictures of my quilts on each of the pages before I fastened it into the box.
This is Becky. She was sitting next to me & was very good company! It was so much fun to make new friends along the way.
What a great time I had at Make it University! If you ever go to Quilt Market, you should try to get into one of these classes! You won't regret it I promise!

International Quilt Festival, 2009

I'm home! My legs are tired, my wallet is empty & my head is full of new ideas..... all I need now is TIME! Here are a few of my pictures of the lovely quilts from Festival....


Early on the first day we saw this lovely quilt. This is just one of 16 blocks, look at the detail! The whole quilt was like a big dollhouse, so much to look at. We were all oooohing & aaaaahing..... when up walked Yasuko Ito, from Japan, squealing... "there's my quilt! there's my quilt!" She was so excited! She had come all the way from Japan to see her quilt in the show. It was so much fun to meet her & tell her how much we loved her work. Here she is....
The quality of all of the quilts was amazing. I wondered if I would really see a difference from some of the other shows (Dallas, Plano) that I have been to. The answer is YES! These were amazing!

I thought this next quilt would look so lovely in my family room! It was made by Susan Nelson from Minnesota...
I knew my Dad & my son would love this quilt! The 7 panels make up Fenway Park! We are huge baseball fans in our family. It was made by Bobbie Sulivan from, yes you guessed it, Massachusetts.


This is the quilt that won Best of Show! It was made by Caryl Bryer Fallert from Paducah, KY. The detail in the quilt is absolutely amazing!

Next post I will share with you some of my shopping finds! Oh & stories about my experience at Make It University! So much to tell.....

Monday, October 12, 2009

getting ready...

I am heading to Houston to the International Quilt Festival on Thursday! I've never been before & I can't wait! I bought me some comfy tennis shoes because I understand there will be lots of walking! I will share some pictures next week (I bought TWO new batteries for the camera! That should do it!)

Speaking of pictures, I feel bad not posting any here. I am working on Christmas presents & I don't dare post them here! Someone might see. Also working on new patterns..... so there will be pictures SOON! I promise!

Off to pack...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

color

I think it's funny how I get stuck in certain color ruts sometimes. The other day I made this little yoyo pin..... to go on this bag.... which you might remember from here....
well, yesterday I bought this magazine and found this sweet pattern..... and off I went to buy yarn for this.....

yes, I am aware babies have 2 feet. I'm on it.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

the quilt the dog ate

I just noticed that this is my 100th blog post! Wow. I guess I should have planned something fabulous to mark this occasion, but, sadly, I did not. Sorry!


I do have a lovely story to share with you today. Thursday night I spent a long time cutting all the pieces for a quilt I was going to make. It was a kit, a log cabin, & there were lots of pieces to be cut with different measurements. There was not a lot of extra fabric either! So no room for error. I laid all the pieces out on the couch in my sewing room, sorted by color and size. I was all set to begin the quilt the next morning!


So, Friday morning I take Ally to school. Usually when I go someplace, I put the dog in her crate. But when I run Ally to school I usually leave her out. I'm gone maybe five minutes as the school is only a few houses down the alley. Normally she would walk, but with the injury & all, I drive her. On Friday it took a few extra minutes because she forgot her lunch & we had to zoom back. No big deal.


So, I get home & what do I find? Lexi is under the dining room table chewing on something. Probably a sock that fell out of the laundry basket or something, right? NO! It's the medium brown fabric strips for my quilt!!! AAAAARGH! Some days I could just shoot that dog!


Well, luckily, I was able to salvage enough of the pieces from the ones she had & squeak the rest of them out of the scraps I had leftover! I worked all day yesterday on this quilt top.... & today I machine quilted it a bit & put the binding on. I think I will hang it in our dining room! I had never done a log cabin before. In fact, when it comes to precision piecing, I'm not usually very precise! Know what I mean? But this came out just right & I'm so proud of myself!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Ally's new fashion item & bags for Houston

How do you like Ally's new footwear? Apparently the bone bruises from a year ago never healed properly. The more she moves it (volleyball, physical therapy, etc) the more aggravated it gets. So, we're trying a new tactic! Total immobilization for at least a month.
For now she thinks it's fun & pretty. Check back in a few days.

meanwhile, I am getting excited about Quilt Festival in Houston! We leave 2 weeks from today! I can't wait. I made myself 2 new bags to take along.... one is my Nantucket pattern & the other is a sneak peek at my new pattern! Woohoo.... hopefully I will be ready to totally reveal that to you very soon
I hear my friend, Lisa, received my package finally! That really didn't take too long at all.

Well, I'm off to pick up my little invalid. I'll be happy when she can walk again! (so will she!)